Kings of War: Four player battle.

 Recently Chris and I have been working on new armies for Kings of War in 28mm. Chris has been painting a very special themed Kingdoms of Men army. Their colour scheme is taken from the Ukrainian flag and he is making a wonderful job of them. Once complete Chris is going to auction the army off to raise funds for a suitable charity to help Ukrainians in need, a very noble effort. 

My own new army is Sylvan Kin formed largely from the Oathmark elves I had not got round to painting yet plus a few other bits I either had lying around or acquired from ebay or elsewhere. 

This is the whole force so far, just above 1,000points as a rough estimate.

This photo shows the more recently painted items. The Tree Shamblers were already painted but have been re-based to suit the basing style I have adopted for my Sylvan Kin. The banners were drawn on a computer programme and then painted over to make the colour brighter. 

Today Chris came up for a game and with Ian and Phil coming along as well we opted for a four player game with 750 points per player. As host I devised the following scenario.... 

Battle over the Graves of the ‘Kryndara’

A multi player game of Kings of War using four 750 point ‘Ambush’ armies.

The Kryndara are an ancient people whose burial grounds are occasionally found scattered amongst the many ruins to be found upon the plains of Babdos. As the opposing armies approach each other it is obvious that the battle is going to take place across the ruins of a Kryndaran graveyard. As the armies close upon their foe, they clash over the remains of the graveyard, can they claim some treasure as well as victory?

Army 1	Army 2
	Chapel
Army 3	Army 4

Deployment: For deployment, place 4 tokens numbered 1-4 in a bag. The players take it in turns to draw a token from the bag. The number drawn indicates their deployment zone and also they will ally with the army deployed adjacent to them. Players then throw a d6, deploying their armies in ascending order, so lowest score first (re-throw ties). Figures may be deployed up to 12” in from the table edge. Other terrain will have been placed randomly on the table.

Duration: the battle last 6 turns plus a possible seventh. At the end of the sixth turn throw a d6, score 1,2 or 3 = game over, 4,5 or 6 and play a final seventh turn.

Chapel and Graves: in the centre of the table is a ruined chapel. Also placed along the centre line are 4 old graves, equally spaced. Then throw 2xd6 for a number of inches and a random direction dice for each grave and locate them where the dice indicate.

The ruined chapel is worth 2VP and each grave is worth 1VP.

To claim the chapel or a grave a player must move a unit into contact with it and be the only player with a unit in contact with it at the end of the game. The first player to contact either the crypt or a grave must throw a d6 with the following effect…

1-3: Chapel/grave is empty

4-5: The angry spirit of a long dead Kryndaran attacks the unit/character

Spirit: SP5, Me5+, De4+, Att1, Ne11, if defeated it will shriek and then fade away.

6: Treasure: throw a d6 again… 1,2: a rusty Blade of Slashing (re-roll 1 melee dice)

3,4: A very decorative Staying stone: +1 to Wavering stat

5,6: Onyx Ring: regeneration 4+, once per game.

Any treasures found/claimed are also worth 1xVP.

Players also gain victory points for routing enemy units, scoring 1VP for each point of unit size their routed foe is worth. We will use glass gems to keep score of VP's. The winners of the game are the allies with the most glass gems at the end of the battle.

So, how did the game go?  Ian had brought along 750pts of his Blue Orcs on their winter themed bases. Chris was using his Kingdome of Men and lent Phil an Orc force whilst I took charge of my Sylvan Kin. A quick round of dice throws decided that Phil and I would take on Chris and Ian with those two having to deploy first but we took the first turn. 

Chris: Kingdoms of Men, note the colour scheme which is also very effective.

Ian: Ice Orcs-(really nice painting on those Ian) we had to laugh half way through the game when Ian suddenly realised he had got his troops and regiments mixed up (made a change from his arse and his elbow!) so had to remove a few bases. That made his Orcs suddenly less intimidating! 

Phil: Orcs on loan from Chris, lovely Orc figures very well painted. 

Me: Sylvan Kin who used 'scout' on their Shamblers to claim the first grave which also granted them an Onyx Ring 

First turn action and at the bottom of the page my Silverbreeze Cavalry have already shot and destroyed the human light cavalry. Whilst Phil advances his gore riders at the top left. 

Note how Ian has claimed the ruined chapel in the centre. 

Clash of the Gore Riders, top left. In charged Phil... 

...and scored 2 hits!!!

That did not go to plan. 

Assisted by the Krudger on beast and some Orc Infantry Ian managed to defeat Phil's Gore Riders but lost his own Gore riders in the process. 

On the other flank the Sylvan Kin were getting the upper hand by using their shooting superiority well. Note the Silverbreeze Cavalry running round the KoMen's rear. At this point it looked like a convincing win was on the cards for the Sylvan Kin and thier Orc allies.  

However, once the KoMen got into melee with the Sylvan Kin they literally fought their way back into the battle. By the end of turn 6 the Sylvan Kin/orcs were still winning but only just.  . 

Chris managed to get his characters and some spearmen into the fray. These were quite tough but having badly damaged my Elf phalanx he scored a mighty 'double one' on the nerve test which I think Chris felt perhaps summed up his luck with the dice today. 

The dice decided we would play a final seventh turn where I forgot to take any photo's. My leader Emyn Lockharn got routed and neither Phil or I did as well in shooting or melee so did not gain any more VP. Chris and Ian fared better destroying my Gladestalkers and Tallspears.  

Happily for us the the Sylvan Kin/Orc alliance held on for a narrow win by just two victory points. 

We really enjoyed the game but were not sure that my idea of awarding Victory Points for the unit size of troops destroyed was perhaps such a balanced way of awarding VP's. A %age of points lost may work better?  

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The Battle of Two Rivers: 15mm Hail Caesar

 

The Battle of Two Rivers

Last chance for the Greeks to defeat the Carthaginian Invaders.

After their recent victory at Inicum the Carthaginians now advance inland, reclaiming land that they had previously ruled. The Greeks have fallen back into the Gemelii Hills to regroup. In an attempt to halt the Carthaginian advance Gelon, the Greek commander assembles his forces between two rivers, the Halycus and the Hypsas and now awaits the re-enforcements he has called for. The Carthaginians advance towards the Greek position but have sent their main cavalry division on a flank attack but they seem to have got lost as they are late for the battle?

Talking of cavalry, the front unit of Greek cavalry in this photo are 'Tin Soldier' 15mm and the rear unit are 15mm Greek Cavalry from 'Museum Miniatures'  All nice figures but the size difference is amazing? 

Both armies are around 400 points and should be divided into 4 divisions split between the 3 Leaders (Ld8) and their main commander Hamilcar and Gelon (both Ld9). The Carthaginian division that contains most units of cavalry is the one that is missing. The Greeks deploy two divisions set between the two rivers, so a good position to defend. The Carthaginians may deploy along the Northern edge upto 18” in. The rivers are not fordable.

The Carthaginian cavalry division if/when it arrives may enter the table on either flank in the Carthaginian half, up to midway across the table. Their arrival is decided by throwing two dice from the start of turn 2.

On turn 2 on a score of double 1 on two dice.

On turn 3 on a score of double 1 or 2.

On turn 4 on a score of double 1,2 or 3.

On turn 5 on a score of double 1,2 3 or 4.

On turn 6 on a score of double 1,2,3,4 or 5.

On turn 7 onwards, on a score of any double on the dice.

The Carthaginians decide the flank of their cavalry arrival by a single d6, 1,2 or 3 = west flank, 4,5 or 6 = east flank, as per the map.

The Greeks throw a d6 and follow the scores also indicated on the map for where their extra divisions arrive.

The extra two Greek Divisions will arrive anytime after the first turn. From turn 2 onwards throw a single d6, on a score of 4+ one division may enter the table along the road from either the east or west flank or from between the two rivers as decided by the dice.Throw each turn until both extra divisions have arrived.

As in the two previous games Ian and Phil were the Carthaginians and Nigel and I were in charge of the Greeks. 

The Greeks deployed between the two rivers and in turn 1, disaster, Nigel's division 'blundered' and retreated off the table. Nigel then failed another two command rolls to try and bring them back on, they finally returned to the table on turn 4. 

Ian and Phil meanwhile were quite successful in advancing their troops rapidly, trying to get across the board before the Greek re-enforcements arrived. 

Looking across the advancing Carthage troops, top right you can see the Greek Cavalry division has arrived on the eastern flank. 

A view from behind the Carthaginian line, spot the Greek Cavalry, top right. 

Another blunder sent my light cavalry rushing forward into melee with Ian's Carthaginian Medium Cavalry who easily won the fight.  

My Greek Medium cavalry came to help and after a few rounds of melee destroyed the Carthaginian cavalry. So far so good for the Greeks

The Greeks chase away the Carthaginian Medium cavalry.

In the centre, one of my Elite Hoplite units catch some Carthaginian Spearmen in the flank. With some truly disastrous dice throwing by me the first round of melee was drawn and Ian was able to turn to face and then destroy the hoplites by forcing them to withdraw into an elephant that had snuck around their rear. This is the point where it really started going wrong for the Greeks. 

The centre soon became packed with units as the Greeks fought desperately to prevent the Carthaginians from breaking through. The Carthaginian leaders were hoping for their cavalry reserve to show up...it never did!

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Gelon, the Greek commander was wounded in this melee. It was not long before the Carthaginians broke through and stormed forward into the heart of Sicily. 

The Greek Cavalry and the re-enforcements were far too hesitant in their approach to be of any use in the battle. So it was another resounding victory for the Carthaginians whose bold advance certainly paid off. Sicily is theirs for the taking and another great game.

15mm Medieval Hail Caesar

 For the past few months Ian and I have been busy painting up forces for the Hundred Years War in 15mm using a variety of manufactures figures. Phil already has a large collection of 15mm Medieval figures (mainly Wars of the Roses) and is currently adding more. 

So we decided it was time to get the new figures on the table using the Wars of the Roses armylist out of the revised rulebook. Ian and I could manage just over 330 points in total so Phil raised a force to match that and had Nigel helping him. We opted for a simple encounter game with 4 command figures per side and armies that were a mish mash of Hundred Years War and Wars of the Roses figures.   

This was the scene after deployment, Ian and I on the left, Phil and Nigel on the right. 

On our left flank Ian and Nigel's Scurrers soon clashed with Nigel winning. 

Nigel's Scurrers surged forward into a group of Peasants which he also destroyed.

On the right flank Phil and I faced each other with almost identical forces for several turns without movement. 

Once Ian and I decided to move forward in the centre, trying to target Phil's smallest division this photo shows what happened to Ian's Knights. 

Phil and I had 3 Household units each facing each other, identical in ability but Phil's longbowmen seemed to do far more damage than mine.  

(Some of the units are off the base of this photo). 

Ian had painted up some lovely dismounted Knights 

(figures from the new Blue Moon Hundred Years War range). 

Ian's troops had suffered badly from Nigel's onslaught and in the middle (photo above) Phil seemed to be slowly getting the upper hand over my troops. So with time running out the result seemed obvious, a sound win for Phil and Nigel but a really enjoyable game for all and Ian and I suffered from the curse of using newly painted figures. 

Hail Caesar is one of our favourite sets of rules, it is very good for multi player games and always produces a few surprises, frustrating moments and almost cinematic moments of tabletop greatness. 

We had one or two queries about the Medieval rules and lists which seemed odd to us.

If suffering casualties from handguns causes a break test why doesn't being hit by cannon? 

The list, whilst a good base list seems to be missing a few unit types such as Mounted Longbow, Bidets and Irish troops such as Kerns. 

We aim to play Medieval's again soon once we have painted up a few more units and may 'house rule' a few things.  

28mm Fantasy Diversion

 In between painting various historical projects I often take a short break by painting a few 28mm Fantasy figures. These can range from elves for a Sylvan Kin 'Kings of War' army to a few 'Old School' pre-slotta figures. 

First we have a few Sylvan Kin, so freshly painted that the elf spearmen still need their base texturing. The elves are all 'Oathmark' miniatures, plastic spearmen and metal characters. I also recently re-based a few Tree Shamblers onto new bases that better match my new basing style for KOW.  The standards were designed on a computer drawing programme, printed in colour and then painted over to make them look better. 

The Sylvan Kin so far. A troop of Sylvan Gladestalkers, two troops of Kindred Tallspears that can be combined into a regiment, a troop of Silverbreeze Cavalry, a troop of Gur Panthers that look like Wolf Hounds and two regiments of Tree Shamblers that can be combined into a Horde. The characters are a Master Hunter (the famed Emyn Lockharn), Elf Prince with Wolf Hound (wild cat) Elf Archmage and an Army Standard Bearer. Must be around 1,000 points in total?. 

The first purchase of my 'Old School' minis idea were these very old 'Conquest Miniatures' sculpted by Bryan Ansell back in the late 70's (I think) and I am sure I used to buy them from Skytrex? I got 10 minis in the purchase, all the same pose but have only painted 6 so far as that makes a unit of skirmishers for the Dragon Rampant rules which will probably be the rules of choice for this project plus other various fantasy skirmish rules.  

The next acquisition were some old school 'Asgard' dwarves. Many of these I got from good friend Chris (cheers Chris). I have only painted 6 so far which makes half a unit of warriors. I have another 12 to paint but am keeping my eye out for more.  

I have always admired the Grenadier High elves sculpted by the very talented Mark Copplestone quite a few years ago now. I rate these as some of the best Elf sculpts you can get , tall, slender yet regal looking. Their features could perhaps be a little more 'elfin'? Happily you can still buy these figures quite easily from a couple of companies and also ebay so it will be easier to expand this collection. 

Happily I already have a large collection of single based fantasy figures from numerous makes that can boost the numbers into a Dragon Rampant sized force for both the good guys and the evil.   

 

More 15mm Hail Caesar : The Carthaginians advance inland.

 We enjoyed our Carthaginian's invading Sicily game last week so much that we decided to play again with a follow up scenario this week. After their victory at Himera the Carthaginian's headed inland for the town of Inicum. As they approach the town they can see a small force of Greeks blocking their path. Adapting scenario 3 from the new Hail Caesar rulebook (page 184) we divided each army up into their divisions. The Greeks were allowed to deploy one division on the table blocking the way to Inicum, then each side could deploy one division per turn on a successful order roll. If the order was failed then that division could try again next turn and so on...

Hamilcar inspiring his troops.

Ian and Phil were in charge of the Carthaginian's again with Nigel and myself commanding the Greeks. 

 

Gelon and his elite hoplites ready to defend the way into Inicum.

The staggered deployment worked well and helped conceal each sides plans. It also gave the two forces time and space to manoeuvre until the Carthaginians re-started their lucky dice throwing by often passing their order tests with 3 moves to zoom forward and start threatening the Greeks. 

The Carthaginians advance. 

The Greeks form their battle line.

Ian gets ready to belt his Carthaginians with the rulebook if they don't advance a bit quicker 

Ian tries to get his cavalry around the Greek flanks once again. 

The Greeks send some light troops forward to try and slow the Carthaginian cavalry down. 

They also sent light troops forward to skirmish with the Carthaginian heavy foot. 

The Greeks did quite well with their skirmishing during the early stages of this battle. 

The start of the clash of the main infantry divisions in the centre.

Elephants are quite nasty when able to use their special rule forcing a defeated enemy to 

re-roll a dice on their break test. 

At this early stage of the battle the dice throws, although fairly even, the Carthaginian troops still managed to gain the upper hand.  

Ian threatens my Elite Hoplites with the Carthaginian Cavalry. 

Combat results elsewhere on the table forced the Elite Hoplites down from their hill as it was thought their help was needed as lady luck deserted the Greeks and the Carthaginian's were winning most of the melee's.  Events soon made them retreat back up the hill again before finally charging towards the centre in a last gasp desperate attempt to break the Carthaginian infantry. (It didn't work!). 

Meanwhile Nigel was testing the Carthaginian (Phil) Gallic allies resolve. 

Nigel managed to keep them at bay for most of the game.  However, when Phil finally got his Gallic Warband into conflict he managed to score a hit with every dice thrown, (same as last week).

 Nigel's dice throwing was on a par with mine and his cavalry got battered. 

With the end of the battle nigh I forgot to take any more photo's in all the excitement. 

The Carthaginians continued their ruthlessness in attack winning melee's even when I thought Nigel or I would/should win them!  This was another hard fought battle but definitely another Carthaginian victory.